Bad Day
by Auto Rock
Summary: A quick fic, based on the intro bit of HL.


Well, here's a short HL fic, which was originally shown on the Planet Half-Life forums. Only took me about 30 minutes.  
  
It's based on the first part of the game.  
  
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CHUNG.  
  
The heavy steel door's clunk echoed around in the huge chamber. The ceiling hidden up in the darkness, the incredible machine seemed to loom out of the sky, ready to destroy all at the touch of a button, the flick of a switch.  
  
Gordon stepped uneasily forward. He hated this room. He didn't perticularly like the Black Mesa Research Facility on the whole. The cool corridors, silent except for the low humming of some far-off generator, dark except for the slight blue of the artificial light. The people were ok, especially the security guys and the science team (although they had a strange tendency to greet him by his full name). Even the Administrator seemed a nice enough guy. Gordon had never talked to him, but he had seen him a few times on the Hazard Course and around the facility, with his encouraging nods and friendly smile.  
  
But this room, the Test Chamber, was the only room which he really hated. It was cold, it was dank, and it the machine, that huge machine that simply hung there and performed it's function, day after day, but always threatening to explode, to show the world it's *true* power, the awesome force it was capable of creating.  
  
"Gordon, are you not hearing me? Climb up and start the rotors, please."  
  
Gordon glanced up at the view window, torn away from his disturbing daydream. He quickly jogged over to the ladder up to the access panel, and climbed. When he reached the panel, his hand hovered over the activation key. He sighed, and tapped the button.  
  
This was, definetely, the *worst* part of his job. The huge rotors, the lasers, the light, the subtle but disturbing vibrations under his feet, the slight, but gnawing uncertainty that this time, something different would happen...  
  
And, thought Gordon for the first time in his life, it was all unnecesary. Why the hell did he have to be in here? They can launch missiles, they can make giant robots to do their work, they can teleport people from one place to another for God's sake!! So why the *hell* did they need some poor schmuck to push the little trolley into a laser beam?! They're happy to use the elevator to get the sample into the chamber, but after that, they need it to be pushed that few metres *by hand* into the hot beam!!  
  
Gordon sighed again. There was no point in thinking like that. It would only get him depressed. He had barely noticed that he had made his way back down the ladder, and was leaning agaisnt the wall by the elevator. He had tuned out of the scientists instructions. Blinking as he caught onto the end of one of their sentences, he looked up.  
  
"It's well within acceptable bounds. Sustaining sequence."  
  
Gordon noticed that the scientists could not see him in his current location, because he was right beneath the view window. He had the funny thought that he could do a little dance or moon or something, just as one of the scientists said something else which Gordon identified as an order.  
  
"Gordon, I've just been informed that the sample is ready and will be delivered in a few moments."  
  
Gordon pushed off of the wall, as the gates around the elevator slid down and the trolley slid up. The sample was some sort of yellow crystal. Gordon examined the thing, and found it quite beautiful. The light from the beams seemed to dance across its many faces and edges, reflecting and refracting off, through, and around it.  
  
"Go ahead Gordon. Shlonk the carrier into the beam."  
  
Gordon smiled slightly. He found the word 'shlonk' oddly humorous.  
  
But now, the glow of the beam beckoned. He walked cautiously round the trolley. Pushing it slowly forward, he felt sad to force the mysterious beauty of the crystal under the harsh powerful wrath of the great machine. He felt despair. He felt guilt. But the trolley was now on the threshold of the light, and he finally felt the painful uncertainty in his gut. He closed his eyes, and forced the beauty into the beast.  
  
The crystal collided with the beams. Beautiful light flurried across the walls of the chamber. The beams rose and spun, dancing majestically around the machine, glowing and sparking, making it an object of beauty. Glowing chunks of concrete fell and crumbled, sending showers of shimmering dust into the air. Sparks crackled from the machine to the walls. The whole room vibrated slightly. Gordon Freeman stood in awe of the massive, resplendent display of light and colour.  
  
"GORDON!! Get away from there!!"  
  
Gordon blinked, and was aware of the destruction he was facing.  
  
It had happened. The awesome, monstrous machine had, with a blinding first display of it's abilities, finally erupted, shaking it's prison violently, ready to anihilate all with it's incredible power.  
  
Gordon Freeman stumbled back, away from the machine, the destruction, but never looking away from it. The uncertainty was still there, but it was no longer concerning whether something would go wrong or not. It was now concerning what happens next.  
  
He ran, hopping over debris, to the door. As soon as he reached it, he continued his run to shoulder-ram into it. It didn't budge. Thumping it with his fists gave no response.  
  
CRACK. The gorund shuddered once more. Gordon Freeman turned around. Through the dust and debris, he spotted something moving, something alive. It stepped uneasily. Gordon Freeman peered at it. It was - it looked like -  
  
Another flash, and to Gordon Freeman, the world ceased to exist. 


End file.
